Amidst the dispersion of local Occupy sites, an open session on civic education, a local community group electronic posting, and some online disappearances conspire for a recovery and renewal.

"The Fate of Civic Education in a Connected World," an open public affairs panel/seminar event sponsored by the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University on December 5, was notable for the minimal time it spent on things technological and its preoccupation with active, in-the-world learning in contrast to the more traditionally academic approaches to civic education.

For the past month or so, Open Media Boston has had the chance to play with a unique breed of netbook streamlined for web content consumption produced by Boston-based company, litl. The eponymous computer eschews many elements of traditional operating environments (including the caps lock key), presenting to users only those tools essential to browsing the web, using cloud applications, and networking easily with other litl users. The user experience is so simple that anyone's grandmother can get online with the litl, but that same simplicity will likely keep more advanced users away. Read on for our full review.